Strictly Come Dancing’s trip to Blackpool pulled in 10.7 million viewers on Saturday night, more than double the audience of rival The X Factor.

The BBC flagship show pulled in 49% of the audience watching television and peaked with 11.4 million viewers watching the eight remaining couples spin round the dancefloor of the Tower Ballroom for week nine of the competition.

The Blackpool special delivered the highest average rating for the main Saturday show of the series.

The episode saw Alexandra Burke and partner Gorka Marquez top the leaderboard for a second week running after scoring 39 for their arcade-themed quickstep, while Debbie McGee channelled her inner Geri Halliwell for a samba to a medley from the Spice Girls.